The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Personal Sketches of Marine Men Emmet J. McCormack, President, Maritime Exchange, New York By Ben. K. Price IS intimate knowledge of the port and his experience in world ship- ping have helped the Maritime Ex- change, of which he is president. HOUGH recognized as a sound coun- sellor in determining general poli- cies, he is a tireless worker insisting on thoroughness in details. E HAS consistently shown a fine public spirit in all matters relat- ing to the national interests of the American merchant marine. maOR approximately 40 years in marine shipping, i] starting as a ‘“‘handy-andy”’ with a New York towing company to become a leading figure in ship coal bunkering throughout the world and for more than 20 years a prominent ship op- erator, Emmet J. McCormack gives to his position as president of the Maritime exchange, New York, to which he has recently been re-elected, elements which virtual- ly assure a successful administration. As implied by his record and experience, he is a man with a broad knowledge of world shipping, a traveled observer, a tireless worker, and, as is often the case, a most interesting man to meet and talk to. He is genial and unostentatious. While appraised as a man more given to the formu- lation of general policies than to attention to details, he nevertheless is a great stickler for details. He de- mands details, exhaustive details, checked and rechecked, and his grasp of their significance has given him a high percentage of success in his ventures. In addition to his practical knowledge of ship opera- tion, he has a keen insight into financial matters. Asa member of the firm of Moore & McCormack Co. Ine., 5 Broadway, he is not only vice president but treasurer. Born in Brooklyn in 1880, Mr. McCormack at the age of 14 became associated with the Van Wie Towing Co., New York. In his formative years with this company he gained a clear conception of the fundamentals of shipping, with New York harbor, the largest port in the world, the school for his training. A few years later he became employed by M. J. Rudolph in the coal and dunnage business. Here the opportunities in coal bunk- ering of ships made their impression and in 1905 he formed a company of his own, the Commercial Coal Co. With the operations first confined to New York har- bor, Mr. McCormack expanded their scope rapidly to develop in time a world-wide coal bunkering business. He fortified his position by the acquisition of coal mines in West Virginia and western Pennsylvania and estab- lished agencies in many of the leading ports of the world. During these years he made many trips abroad. In 1912, with Albert V. Moore, he organized Moore & McCormack Co. Ine. and accepted the agency of the ‘Clinchfield Navigation Co. for which the company de- veloped and operated a fleet of coal steamers until near the close of the World war. Meanwhile, this company developed a fleet of its own, first establishing regular freight and passenger service between New York and South America. During the World war, incidentally, it operated the only passenger service between these points. It also developed services between the United States and Scandinavia. The Moore- mack and American-Scantie lines were formed to han- dle these services. Then the Moore-mack Gulf line was organized to conduct service with ports in the Gulf of Mexico. As Mr. McCormack’s responsibilities with the new company expanded he withdrew from his coal bunker- ing activities, and sold the Brooklyn-Richmond Ferry Co. which he organized in 1911. During the World war Mr. McCormack. in associa- tion with Kermit Roosevelt and A. E. Clegg, became agent for the United States lines at the request of Al- bert D. Lasker, chairman of the United States shipping board. He, with his associates served in that capacity until 1923. In this period his own company operated more than 60 ships for the shipping board and in 1920 established the Irish line, which was later taken over by the board. In 1921, Mr. McCormack was named one of the receiy- ers of the United States Mail Steamship Co. and later with Messrs. Roosevelt and Clegg, operated the line. Following the war Mr. McCormack’s company took over 11 Hog island ships, making extensive alterations in their accommodations and increasing their speeds to 14% knots. Today the company has 23 of its own ships in operation and four laid up. These ships total in ex- cess of 150,000 deadweight tons. Mr. McCormack is associated with numerous organi- zations, including the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, American Steamship Owners’ asso- ciation, the Propeller club, of which he was recently president, the Lawyers, the Whitehall, and the Manhat- tan clubs, all of New York. He is particularly proud of his honorary membership in the Marine Society of the City of New York, first organized in 1769. Other organ- izations include the Fox Hills, L. I., country club, the Pomonack, L. I., golf club, and the Atlantic Yacht club. MARINE REVIEW—July, 1933 37